seal

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  Seale
• WordNet 3.6
  • v seal decide irrevocably "sealing dooms"
  • v seal hunt seals
  • v seal cover with varnish
  • v seal close with or as if with a seal "She sealed the letter with hot wax"
  • v seal make tight; secure against leakage "seal the windows"
  • v seal affix a seal to "seal the letter"
  • n seal any of numerous marine mammals that come on shore to breed; chiefly of cold regions
  • n seal a device incised to make an impression; used to secure a closing or to authenticate documents
  • n seal fastener that provides a tight and perfect closure
  • n seal a finishing coat applied to exclude moisture
  • n seal fastener consisting of a resinous composition that is plastic when warm; used for sealing documents and parcels and letters
  • n seal an indication of approved or superior status
  • n seal a stamp affixed to a document (as to attest to its authenticity or to seal it) "the warrant bore the sheriff's seal"
  • n SEAL a member of a Naval Special Warfare unit who is trained for unconventional warfare "SEAL is an acronym for Sea Air and Land"
  • n seal the pelt or fur (especially the underfur) of a seal "a coat of seal"
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Additional illustrations & photos:

Two polar bears with a seal they have caught

Note the makers’ marks or seals on the wineglass fragments. Only a few English wineglasses bearing 17th-century...

An assortment of glass bottle seals in the Jamestown collection. Some of the wealthy planters had their initials (or...

Lead bale clips used for sealing bales of woolen cloth and other goods. Once a clip had been attached to a bale it...

Young fur seals

Elephant-seal

E-TUK-I-SHOOK WAITING FOR A SEAL AT A BLOW-HOLE

SEAL ROCKS, FROM THE CLIFF HOUSE, NEAR SAN FRANCISCO

• Interesting fact: No SEAL has ever surrendered and no wounded or dead SEAL has ever been left on the field during battle.
• • Seal Among the Mormons, to confirm or set apart as a second or additional wife. "If a man once married desires a second helpmate . . . she is sealed to him under the solemn sanction of the church."
  • Seal An arrangement for preventing the entrance or return of gas or air into a pipe, by which the open end of the pipe dips beneath the surface of water or other liquid, or a deep bend or sag in the pipe is filled with the liquid; a draintrap.
  • Seal An engraved or inscribed stamp, used for marking an impression in wax or other soft substance, to be attached to a document, or otherwise used by way of authentication or security.
  • n Seal sēl (Zoöl) Any aquatic carnivorous mammal of the families Phocidæ and Otariidæ.☞ Seals inhabit seacoasts, and are found principally in the higher latitudes of both hemispheres. There are numerous species, bearing such popular names as sea lion sea leopard sea bear, or ursine seal fur seal, and sea elephant. The bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus), the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata), and the ringed seal (Phoca fœtida), are northern species. See also Eared seal Harp seal Monk seal, and Fur seal, under Eared Harp Monk, and Fur. Seals are much hunted for their skins and fur, and also for their oil, which in some species is very abundant.
  • Seal Hence, to shut close; to keep close; to make fast; to keep secure or secret. "Seal up your lips, and give no words but “mum”."
  • Seal That which confirms, ratifies, or makes stable; that which authenticates; that which secures; assurance. "Under the seal of silence.""Like a red seal is the setting sun
    On the good and the evil men have done."
  • Seal That which seals or fastens; esp., the wax or wafer placed on a letter or other closed paper, etc., to fasten it.
  • v. i Seal To affix one's seal, or a seal. "I will seal unto this bond."
  • Seal To close by means of a seal; as, to seal a drainpipe with water. See 2d Seal, 5.
  • Seal To fasten with a seal; to attach together with a wafer, wax, or other substance causing adhesion; as, to seal a letter.
  • Seal To fix, as a piece of iron in a wall, with cement, plaster, or the like.
  • Seal To mark with a stamp, as an evidence of standard exactness, legal size, or merchantable quality; as, to seal weights and measures; to seal silverware.
  • Seal To set or affix a seal to; hence, to authenticate; to confirm; to ratify; to establish; as, to seal a deed. "And with my hand I seal my true heart's love."
  • Seal Wax, wafer, or other tenacious substance, set to an instrument, and impressed or stamped with a seal; as, to give a deed under hand and seal . "Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond
    Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud."
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• Interesting fact: The Navy SEALs were formed in 1962.
• • n seal A marine car nivorous mammal of the order Feræ, suborder Pinnipedia, and family Phocidæ or Otariidæ; any pinniped not a walrus—for example, a hair-seal, a fur-seal, an eared seal, of which there are numerous genera and species. Seals are regarded as carnivores modified for aquatic life. The modification is profound, and somewhat parallel with that which causes certain other mammals, the cetaceans and sirenians, to resemble fishes in the form of the body and in the nature of the limbs. But seals retain a coat of hair or fur like ordinary quadrupeds, and an expression of the face like that of other carnivores. The body is more or less fusiform, tapering like that of a fish. It is prone, and can scarcely be lifted from the ground, so short are the limbs. These are reduced to mere flippers, especially iu the true Phocidæ, in which the hind legs extend backward and cannot be brought into the position usual to mammals, but resemble the flukes of a cetacean. In the otaries (Otariidæ) the limbs are freer and less constrained. The latter have small but evident external ears, wanting in the former. The monk-seal, Monachus albiventer, lives in the Mediterranean and neighboring Atlantic, and a related species, Monachus tropicalis, is found between the tropics in Central American and West Indian waters. Another seal, Phoca cospica, inhabits inland waters of the Caspian, Aral, and Baikal. But with few exceptions all seals are maritime and also extratropical. They are especially numerous in high latitudes of the northern hemisphere. Among the Phocidæ may be noted Phoca vitulina, the ordinary harbor-seal or sea-calf, common in British waters and along the Atlantic coast of the United States; it is often tamed and exhibited in aquaria, being gentle and docile, and capable of being taught to perform some amusing tricks; it is one of the smaller species, usually from 3 to 5 feet long, and being the best-known, as well as wide-ranging, it has many local and fanciful names. Phoca grœnlandica (Pagophilus grœnlandicus) is the Greenland seal, or harp-seal or saddleback, peculiarly colored, of large size, and an important object of the chase. Pagomys fœtidus is a smaller species, the ringed seal or floe-rat of Greenland. Erignathus barbatus is the great bearded or squareflippered seal of Greenland, attaining a length of 8 or 10 feet. Halichœrus gryphus is a great gray seal of both coasts of the North Atlantic, of about the dimensions of the last named. Histriophoca is a genus containing the banded seal or ribbon-seal, H. fasciata or H. equestris. All the foregoing are members of the subfamily Phocinæ. Cystophora cristata is the hooded, crested, or bladder-nosed seal; this is a large seal, but the largest is the sea-elephant, Macrorhinus proboscideus, of southern seas; and these two genera form the subfamily Cystophorinæ. Certain seals of the southern hemisphere, of the genera Lobodon, Stenorhynchus (or Ogmorhinus), Leptonychotes (formerly Leptonyx), and Ommatophoca, form the subfamily Stenorhynchiæ; some of these are known as sea-leopards from their spotted coloration, and others as sterrincks. All the foregoing are Phocidæ, or earless seals, and they are also hair-seals. But the distinction between hair-seals and fur-seals is not, properly, that between Phocidæ and Otariidæ, but between those members of the latter family which do not and those which do have a copious under-fur of commercial value. The larger otaries are of the former character; they belong to the genera Otaria, Eumetopias, and Zalophus, are of great size, and are commonly called sea-lions; they are of both the northern and the southern hemisphere, chiefly in Pacific waters, and do not occur in the North Atlantic. The southern fur-seals or sea-bears are species of Arctocephahus, and among the smallerotaries. The fur-seal of most economic importance is the North Pacific sea-hear, Callorhinus ursinus. Some genera of fossil seals are described. See cuts under Cystophorinæ, Erignathus, Eumetopias, fur-seal, harp-seal, otary, Pagomys, Phoca, ribbon-seal, sea-elephant, sea-leopard, sea-lion, and Zalophus.
  • n seal In heraldry, a bearing representing a creature something like a walrus, with a long fish-like body and the head of a carnivorous animal.
  • seal To hunt or catch seals.
  • n seal An impressed device, as of a letter, cipher, or figure, in lead, wax, paper, or other soft substance, affixed to a document in connection with or in place of a signature, as a mark of authenticity and confirmation, or for the purpose of fastening up the document in order to conceal the contents. In the middle ages seals were either impressed in wax run on the surface of the document, or suspended by cord or strips of parchment, as in the papal bulls. (See bull, 2.) In some jurisdictions an impression on the paper itself is now sufficient, and in others the letters L. S. (locus sigilli, the place of the seal) or a scroll or a mere bit of colored paper (see def. 3) are equivalent. In the United States the seal of a corporation or of a public officer may be by impression on the paper alone.
  • n seal The engraved stone, glass, or metal stamp by which such an impression is made. Seals are sometimes worn as rings, and frequently as pendants from the watch-chain or fob.
  • n seal A small disk of paper, or the like, attached to a document after the signature, and held to represent the seal of wax, which is in this case dispensed with.
  • n seal That which authenticates, confirms, or ratifies; confirmation; as surance; pledge.
  • n seal A sealed instrument; a writ or warrant given under seal.
  • n seal The office of the sealer or official who authenticates by affixing a seal.
  • n seal The wax or wafer with which a folded letter or an envelop is closed; also, any other substance similarly used to assure security or secrecy, as lead for sealing bonded cars, etc. See leaden seal, below.
  • n seal Figuratively, that which effectually closes, confines, or secures; that which makes fast.
  • n seal In plumbing, a small quantity of water left standing in a trap or curve of tubing connected with a drain or sewer in order to prevent the escape of gas from below.
  • n seal Eccles.:
  • n seal The sign of the cross.
  • n seal Baptism.
  • n seal Confirmation.
  • n seal Same as holy lamb (which see, under lamb).
  • n seal In old medicine, the so-called sigil or signature of a plant, mineral, etc. See signature.
  • n seal [caps.] Same as Lord Privy Seal.
  • n seal In English history, an instrument imposing a forced loan: so called because it was authenticated by the clerk of the privy seal.
  • seal To set or affix a seal to, as a mark of authenticity, confirmation, or execution: as, to seal a deed.
  • seal To stamp, as with a seal.
  • seal Specifically.
  • seal To certify with a stamp or mark; stamp as an evidence of standard exactness, legal size, or merchantable quality: as, to seal weights and measures; to seal leather.
  • seal To attest; affirm; bear witness to the truth or genuineness of, by some outward act: as, to seal one's loyalty with one's life; hence, to confirm; ratify; establish; fix.
  • seal To grant authoritatively or under seal.
  • seal To fasten or secure with a seal, or with some fastening bearing a seal; close or secure with sealing-wax, a wafer, or the like: as, to seal a letter.
  • seal To shut up or close: as, to seal a book; to seal one's lips or eyes; hence, to establish; determine irrevocably.
  • seal To mark; designate; appoint.
  • seal To set apart or give in marriage, according to the system of plural marriages prevalent among the Mormons of Utah. This use is apparently derived from such phrases as—“I pronounce you legally and lawfully husband and wife for time and for all eternity; and I seal upon you the blessings of the holy resurrection,” etc., in the Mormon formula for marriage.
  • seal To inclose; confine; imprison.
  • seal In hydraul., sanitary engin., etc., to secure against a flow or escape of air or gas, as by the use of a dip-pipe in any form. A vessel is thus sealed when a shallow channel formed around the neck is filled with water, into which dips the rim of a cover or cap inclosing the orifice. Such a device is said to form a water-seal. The principle has many and various applications, as in the different forms of plumbers' traps.
  • seal In architecture, to fix, as a piece of wood or iron in a wall, with cement, plaster, or other binding material for staples, hinges, etc.
  • seal To close the chinks of, as a log house, with plaster, clay, or the like.
  • seal To aceept; adopt: as, to seal a design.
  • seal Eccles.:
  • seal To sign with the cross.
  • seal To baptize.
  • seal To confirm.
  • seal To make the impression of a seal; attach a seal.
  • seal See seel.
  • n seal Sealskin; leather made from the skin of the seal.
  • n seal The amount of lap over the edge of an opening by which a lid or valve projects to make a tight joint and prevent leakage past it.
  • n seal See day.
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• Interesting fact: The training mantra of the SEALs is, 'The only easy day was yesterday.'
• • n Seal sēl an engraved stamp for impressing the wax which closes a letter, &c.: the wax or other substance so impressed: that which makes fast or secure: that which authenticates or ratifies: assurance: the water left standing in the trap of a drain or sewer, preventing the upward flow of gas: the sigil or signature of a plant, &c., in medieval medicine: the sign of the cross, baptism, confirmation, the ineffaceable character supposed to be left on the soul by some sacraments
  • v.t Seal to fasten with a seal: to set a seal to: to mark with a stamp: to make fast: to confirm: to keep secure: to close the chinks of: to secure against an escape of air or gas by means of a dip-pipe: to accept: to sign with the cross, to baptise or confirm
  • n Seal sēl the name commonly applied to all the Pinnipedia except the morse or walrus—carnivorous mammals adapted to a marine existence; the two great families are Phocidæ (without external ears) and Otariidæ (having distinct though small external ears):
  • v.t Seal to hunt seals
  • n Seal sēl (her.) a bearing representing a creature something like a walrus
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• George Sand

  

  “I see upon their noble brows the seal of the Lord, for they were born kings of the earth far more truly than those who possess it only from having bought it.”
• Lord Byron

  

  “We have progressively improved into a less spiritual species of tenderness -- but the seal is not yet fixed though the wax is preparing for the impression.”
• Bible

  

  “My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity. [Job 14:17]”
• Bible

  

  “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. [New Testament]”
• Proverb

  

  “Simplicity is the seal of truth.”
• Herman Boerhaave

  

  “The great seal of truth is simplicity.”

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